Bolt cap unit



March 22, 1966 K. BOSLER BOLT CAP UNIT Filed June 27, 1963 KT'ZZ B05597" United States Patent 3,241,427 BOLT CAP UNIT Krell Bosler, Mansfield, Ohio, assignor to Borg-Warner Corporation, Chicago, ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed June 27, 1963, Ser. No. 291,007 1 Claim. (Cl. 85--56) This invention relates to a bolt cap unit and more particularly to a unit having a cap covering a bolt utilized in securing toilet fixtures.

conventionally, toilet fixture securing bolts are covered by porcelain caps held on the bolts by adhesives or other means that eventually deteriorate to the extent that the porcelain caps break loose from the bolts as a result of physical contact therewith by persons and equipment during maintenance, cleaning and utilization of the toilet fixture.

It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide an improved bolt cap unit for toilet fixtures utilizing a cap which can be readily and permanently applied to a normally threaded bolt and nut assembly fixture fastener and which will not be broken loose by contacts made therewith by persons and equipment during maintenance, cleaning and utilization of the fixture.

It is another primary object to this invention to provide an improved bolt cap unit wherein the cap does not require internal threads, does not require particularly designed members to receive and retain the cap, and which will resiliently and permanently engage a normally threaded bolt to cover the bolt.

With these and other objects in view, the present invention contemplates generally a bolt cap unit having the combination of a bolt and a nut unit assembly for retaining a toilet fixture, and a cap is adapted to be positioned over an extending threaded portion of the bolt and is provided with resilient elements particularly adapted to engage the threaded bolt portion for permanently retaining the cap in position on the threaded end of the bolt to cover the bolt.

Other objects, advantages and novel aspects of this invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a toilet fixture showing an application of the invention with a toilet.

FIG. 2 is a partial vertical sectional view of one embodiment of the bolt cap unit invention showing the relative position of the flange of the toilet fixture and the elements of the bolt cap unit.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of one embodiment of the bolt cap unit illustrated in FIG. 2 before it is positioned on the threaded end of the bolt on the toilet fixture showing the normal structure and position of the gripping and shielding elements of that embodiment of the cap.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the cap illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 showing the segmented gripping elements of the cap.

FIG. 5 is a partial vertical sectional view of another embodiment of the bolt cap unit invention illustrating a cap having a single radially extending body and the bolt gripping portions utilized in conjunction with a toilet fixture having a recess for a nut fastener of the unit.

FIG. 6 is a partial vertical sectional view of another embodiment of the bolt cap unit invention showing still another cap utilized in conjunction with a toilet fixture having a recess for a nut fastener.

Referring to the drawings there are three exemplary embodiments of this invention illustrated (FIGS. 2, 5 and 6). FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the general application "ice Of the novel bolt cap unit of this invention, generally represented by the numeral 10, in position on a flange 11 of a bathroom fixture 12. The first embodiment of this invention (FIGS. 24) includes generally a bolt 13, nut 14 and :a cap 15. The bolt 13 is provided with a large flat radially extended head 16 and is inserted in a slot 17 of a fixture anchor plate 18 with the head 16 between the anchor plate 18 and the fixture support surface 19 to which the fixture is to be attached. The bolt 13 is provided with a threaded portion 20 extending through and considerably beyond an opening 21 in the fixture flange 11. A washer 22 is positioned on the threaded portion 20 of the bolt 13 and nut 14 is tightened on the bolt 13 against the washer 22 to retain the fixture 12 on the anchor plate 18.

The cap 15 generally includes a top body portion 30, side body portion 31 and a center gripping body portion or element 32, all of which form a single piece and which are preferably made of resilient material, such as plastic or hard rubber. The side portions 31 are provided with a peripheral bottom edge 33 adapted to engage an outer surface 34 of the fixture flange 11 when the cap 15 is in position on the bolt 13 (FIG. 2).

The center gripping body portion 32 of the cap 15 is shown slightly conical with sides 40 converging downwardly when the cap is not applied to the bolt 13 (FIG. 3). The gripping portion 32 is provided with a downwardly opening cavity 41 and an annular inwardly extending projection 42 having longitudinally tapered edges 43 and 44. The gripping element 32 is provided with 3 radial slots 45 extending longitudinally in portion 32 and spaced substantially degrees apart (FIG. 4) to divide the gripping element portion 32 into 3 resilient gripping elements 32a. The projection 42 is thereby also segmented into 3 parts 42a.

It should be noted that the tapered surfaces 43 of the projections 42a facilitate the positioning of the cap over the bolt 13 with the bolt in the cavity 41 of the cap. Surfaces 46'are provided on the projections 42a for gripping the threaded portion 20 of the bolt 13 (FIG. 2). The surfaces 46 are substantially concentric with the outer surface 40 and define a diameter less than the outer diameter of the threaded portion 20 of the bolt 13 so that when the cap is positioned over the end of the bolt (FIG. 2) the surfaces 40 and 46 are moved outwardly from their normal slightly conical position so that the surfaces 46 will be urged to engage the threaded portion 20 of the bolt 13 to anchor the cap 15 permanently in place over the bolt with surface 33 in engagement with surface 34 of the fixture flange 11.

Another embodiment of this invention is illustrated in FIG. 5 and includes generally the bolt 13 secured in the slot 17 of the anchor flange 18 with the head 16 between the flange and the supporting surface 19 and the threaded portion 20 positioned in opening 21. In this embodiment of the invention, the opening 21 is shown smaller than that illustrated in FIG. 1 and the nut 14 is tightened on the bolt 13 directly against a recessed surface 11a in the flange 11 of the fixture 12 to secure the fixture to the flange 11.

However, the opening 21 could be large or small in either embodiment shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 5 and the washer 22 can be used where appropriate or desired without affecting the scope of the invention.

A cap 50 is provided which has a radially extending body portion 5 1 and a gripping portion 52. The portion 51 may be rectangular, circular, triangular or other similar configuration, depending upon the appearance desired. The gripping portion 52 is identical with the gripping portion 32 of the cap 15 illustrated in the above described embodiment of this invention (FIGS. 2-4). The cap 50 is forced into permanent position over the threaded end 20 of the bolt 13 as previously described and the surfaces 46 grippingly engage the threads 20 with the flange 51 in engagement with the surface 34 of flange 11.

The body portion 51 could be made to substantially complement the recess in the flange 11 or be smaller than the recess so as to fit therein to allow the body portion 51 to present a flush or recessed appearance with the surface 34 of the flange 11.

Still another embodiment of this invention is illustrated in FIG. 6 and includes the bolt 13 positioned in the slot 17 having the flat head 16 positioned between the anchor plate 18 and the supporting surface 19 and the nut 14 is tightened on the threaded portion 20 of the bolt 13 against a recessed surface 11a in the flange 11 of the fixture 12. In this general embodiment of the invention, a cap 59 is provided with a top body portion 60 and a longitudinally extended side body portion 61 which are adapted to enclose the recessed surface 11a when the cap 59 is positioned on the bolt 13. The cap 59 is provided with a gripping portion 62 which is identical to portion 32 and 52 of the other illustrated embodiment of this invention. The cap 59 is forced over the threaded end 20 of the bolt 13 as previously described in regard to caps 15 and 50 and the surfaces 46 grippingly engage the threads 20 to hold the cap 59 in position (FIG. 6).

It is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, except only insofar as the claim may be so limited, as it will be understood to those skilled in the art that changes may be made without departing from the principles of the invention' What is claimed is:

The combination of a retaining means for a toilet fixture including a threaded bolt and nut unit assembly having the bolt thereof positioned in an aperture of the fixture for retaining the fixture, said bolt having the threaded portion thereof extending beyond said nut; and a resilient cap having a radially extending top body portion, a cap body side portion extending from said top and defining a downwardly open chamber within said cap, an internal cylindrical gripping 'body element portion extending downwardly from and beyond said top within the chamber, said internal portion having a downwardly opening cavity formed therein, said cavity being defined by a substantially cylindrical surface portion having a diameter greater than the major diameter of said bolt threads, and having an annular projection at the lower end thereof extending radially inwardly into the cavity, said projection comprising a second cylindrical annular surface with a diameter less than the major diameter of said bolt threads, and having tapered surface portions at each end thereof extending radially outwardly to join said second cylindrical surface to the first mentioned cylindrical surface and the free end of the gripping portion, respectively, said internal portion having radially spaced longitudinal slots formed therein extending radially between the exterior and the cavity of said portion to divide said portion into resilient segments for forcing said inner projection surface into gripping engagement with said threaded extension, the circumferential extent of said segments being considerably greater than that of said slots.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 245,908 8/1881 Wise 24-108 1,096,269 5/1914 Saxe 85-53 2,365,888 12/1944 Linderfelt et al. 138-96 2,653,835 9/1953 Nelson 8556 FOREIGN PATENTS 376,004 7/1932 Great Britain. 527,930 10/1940 Great Britain.

EDWARD C. ALLEN, Primary Examiner. 

